INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana University and Ivy Tech Community College today (March 4) announced a new partnership between IU East and Ivy Tech Community College Richmond to enhance learning opportunities for residents of east central Indiana and west central Ohio.

In signing a “statement of mutual purpose” during an afternoon ceremony at the Indiana Statehouse, the two campuses in Richmond, Ind., declared their commitment to working together to provide efficient and affordable academic programs to their surrounding communities.

“Indiana University aims to provide a first-rate education to all Hoosiers,” said IU President Michael McRobbie. “This agreement between IU East and Ivy Tech Community College Richmond will ensure that our two schools complement each other’s distinct educational missions and provide a greater number of Hoosiers with high quality academic programs and services that can improve their cultural and economic well-being.”

According to the agreement, Ivy Tech will be primarily responsible for the delivery of college preparatory, workforce certification, associate degree and transfer programming. IU East will concentrate its efforts on providing students with four-year bachelor’s and master’s degree programming. The statement was signed by James L. Steck, chancellor and vice provost of Ivy Tech Community College Richmond, and IU East Interim Chancellor Nasser Paydar.

“This is another example of the terrific collaboration between the state’s community college and Indiana University,” said Ivy Tech Community College President Thomas J. Snyder. “Our mission at Ivy Tech Community College is to provide access to higher education for Hoosiers throughout the state. Our students earn the training needed for today’s workforce and at the same time are able to transfer their credits to pursue a bachelor’s degree at our partner universities throughout the state. Working together with our four-year college and universities will continue to ensure that we have a seamless higher education system able to provide a workforce that is ready for the jobs of the future.”

“Our innovative partnership with Ivy Tech will create a seamless learning system for the residents of east central Indiana,” said Paydar. “By collaborating in a strategic way and acknowledging our distinct missions, we will be better able to serve the needs of this region and have an even greater impact on the quality of life and economic development of our communities.”

The agreement is the latest in a long line of collaborative efforts between IU and Ivy Tech that have resulted in greater educational opportunities for Hoosiers. In recent years, the two institutions have partnered to provide expanded transfer of credit opportunities throughout the state; establish a program (“Hoosier Link”) that provides a select group of students at Ivy Tech Community College Bloomington with guaranteed transferability of credits to IU Bloomington; and designed a successful “Passport” system that has simplified the transfer of credit and/or degrees between Ivy Tech Community College Central Indiana and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

“This new agreement — by building on agreements already in place — provides the essential framework for taking the longstanding partnership between our two institutions in east central Indiana to yet another level,” said Steck. “In effect, the agreement provides the scaffolding for further leveraging our institutional resources to better serve the needs of our local communities. This scaffolding is principally the clear differentiation of the unique missions of the two institutions — IU East as the bachelor’s and master’s degree provider and Ivy Tech as the primary provider of associate’s degrees, workforce education and transfer programming.”

IU East and Ivy Tech Community College Richmond have agreed to engage in several new initiatives. They include working together to increase the number of students receiving associate degrees from Ivy Tech who transfer to IU East to complete a bachelor’s degree; developing a “Passport” type program that provides information on dual admissions, financial aid, mutual support services, course scheduling and student life; sharing strategic institutional data such as student enrollment by program and student performance information; reducing the overall costs of education; and supporting regional efforts to enhance the college preparedness of K-12 students.

IU East and Ivy Tech Community College Richmond will deliver regular public reports on the progress made toward these initiatives.